Home Organizing Tips – Home Office

by Sarah Buckwalter

in General

13 Jan 2022

Home Organizing Tips – Home Office

Your home office is the command center of your home and family. Even if you don’t have a true office, you have paperwork and more related to keeping your home, family and life running smoothly.

Whether you use your home office to work from home, manage your home and family, or both, your home office needs to work for you! I’ll help you clear your surfaces and get systems in place to manage paperwork, projects and any other piles you encounter. You’ll end up with a calm, clear space where you can settle in and get your best work done! Get ready to take control of your home office.

Dedicate a Space

You may not have a whole room to work with. That’s fine. It just needs to be a dedicated space. This could be small, such as a mobile filing cart that tucks under your dining room table or a desk on one side of a room.
Don’t fight natural tendencies – set up your command center where mail, paperwork and other important items already tend to accumulate.

Corral Your Supplies

Have what you need to process mail, school papers, create new files, etc. at the ready. The should be within reach, so you’re not running around the house trying to find a stamp to mail something.

Process Paper Pronto

Take time to go through mail and incoming paperwork every day
Immediately toss trash and recycling
Corral follow up items with a set of action files
Schedule regular time to take action – put it in your calendar!

Kick Start with a Quick Sort

Tackle your piles by sorting each item into basic categories – don’t forget to toss as you go!
Start with To Do, To File, Trash.

Create Landing Zones

Avoid future piles by providing containers for what naturally piles up – i.e. an inbox for paper, catchall for keys, change, and a charging station for all those devices.

Streamline Your Files

Take the time to go through your existing files – only keep what you really need.
Go paperless when possible.
Consider scanning items you don’t need to keep as a hard copy – be sure to set up and back up your electronic files.
Make sure to schedule a date to deal with your files – can either be done in a couple of longer sessions or more frequent 15-30 minutes blocks..

Short on time? Do a Quick Fix!
Our Quick Fix solutions are designed to help you whip your spaces into better shape in one short session. You may not get to tackle everything, but you will improve how each space functions and chances are you’ll build momentum to keep going and take it to the next level. Organizing is like a puzzle, sometimes just getting one or two pieces in place helps you see that whole picture more clearly.

Home Office Quick Fix

Start by setting your timer for 30 min
Gather all loose papers into one box
Toss any junk immediately
Create a to-do folder for action items
Put papers to file in a tray/bin
Set up a catchall for collecting loose stuff
Set up a basket/bin for incoming mail
Do a quick sort by category and corral office supplies into containers

After you’ve calmed that chaos, it’s time to set up simple systems for incoming paper, projects and more – do what works for you and your family, and don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be. You’ll also need to make time to practice your new routines – it takes time to create tried and true habits, but it’s well worth it.

And last but not least, once you’re feeling good about managing your current home office needs, you can schedule bits of time to tackle your archives one bite at a time. This includes any old files you didn’t get too, boxes of old pictures, memorabilia and more.